I am very excited to share my first blog and thank all those who have contributed, especially Carlee Vendramin, our Communications Officer. We hope that you will find this blog helpful in staying connected with all of the exciting work taking place in our Sudbury Catholic Schools.

As we begin a new school year, I would like to take some time to reflect on all of the exciting developments that took place this past summer! So much took place but here is a snapshot…

2017 Summer Learning Program

The 2017 Summer Learning Program was a success, with six camps packed full of eager participants! The campers took part in one of three programs: the summer literacy program, the summer numeracy program and the Indigenous arts and literacy program, enhancing and improving their reading and math skills. The camps were infused with the latest technology and each day started with a session of Taekwondo!

Visit to Kunming Jinguo Kindergarten Summer Camp in China

Alice Desormeaux and Lina Reale, Kindergarten teachers at St. Anne Elementary and Holy Cross Elementary schools respectively, had the wonderful opportunity to visit the Kunming Jinguo Kindergarten Summer Camp in China this past August! While there, the teachers participated in the camps, engaging with children aged 3 to 10 years old. They also interacted with the teachers and staff at Jinguo, offering a learning opportunity for all on best practices in the classroom.

Students from Hangzhuo, China also joined students from Sudbury Catholic Schools in August to attend a week-long summer camp! Sudbury Catholic School teachers taught the students each day at Holy Cross Elementary School. The participants also completed daily outings to famous Sudbury attractions such as Dynamic Earth. The students thoroughly enjoyed learning more about each other’s culture and traditions throughout the camp experience!

School Readiness Program

To help prepare our youngest learners, we partnered with Jubilee Heritage Family Resources to offer a School Readiness Program! This was a week-long program aimed to introduce children entering Kindergarten to the school and to work on school readiness skills. This program also allowed parents to gain greater understanding about our schools and to support their child in the exciting transition to schools. These little ones are now settling into our Kindergarten classes surrounded by our caring Early Learning Support Teams.

Get to Know Us!

In this month’s post, it is my pleasure to introduce you to Lynsie Royer, an Intensive Support Facilitator at St. David Catholic Elementary School. This is a job embedded professional learning position which is part of our Learning Support Services Department.

Intensive Support Facilitators learn from teachers, each other, and specialists in the field of education collaborating on ideas and teachings to assess students that will help guide teacher practices.  Intensive Support Facilitators also support the implementation of new resources and collaborate with teachers to help meet their professional learning goals, the school improvement goals and the varying needs of students to support student achievement. The overall goal of this position is to increase student achievement in an innovative learning environment.

“As a teacher, I’m always learning from my students. With this job though, teachers are teaching each other. This new way of learning and training has changed the teaching practice in general, and has made me a better educator,” Lynsie Royer Intensive Support Facilitator at St. David Catholic Elementary School.

New Mission, Vision and Values

I have no doubt that the 2017-2018 School Year will be full of opportunity and growth for all. Throughout the past two years, our Board has undergone an in-depth consultation process to develop our multi-year plan for 2017-2021.Through on-line questionnaires, face-to-face discussions and conversations with students, staff and parents alike, we have developed a new path for the Sudbury Catholic District School Board. We proudly present our new mission, vision and values as follows:

Mission: To realize each student’s potential within our inclusive Catholic learning community by nurturing and developing their mind, body and spirit.

Vision: Leaders in Learning and Faith

Values: Faith – Respect – Community – Innovation – Learning – Modelling Jesus in the world

Strategic Pathways:

1. We are called to strengthen our faith-based, inclusive and equitable community
2. We are called to promote innovation
3. We are called to advance leadership and learning for all.

I wish all our staff and students a wonderful start to their next adventures in learning. I know that each of you will accomplish great things over the course of the school year.

Keep an eye out for my next blog post in October!